(May 24, 2018 at 2:15 am)robvalue Wrote: I respect that he admits that we can learn nothing about this cause. Trying to call the cause "God" is a shifty play though (I'm not sure if he's doing this or not) as it tries to sneak in sentience and grandeur without justification.
I'll add to my questions:
Why can't there be ten eternal things, with one/all of them causing everything else?
We can learn a few things.
1. As stated, the grounding cause is eternal in nature, with "eternity" meaning "simultaneously-whole and perfect possession of interminable life." One important consequence is that an eternal being cannot die or corrupt (go out of existence). Hence God, having created the universe, still exists now.
2. God's ad intra immutability follows from eternity.
3. For an eternal God, all 4 time periods -- past, present, future, and timelessness -- are united in a single moment of boiling divine life. There is nothing in God's past to regret; or in His future fearful and uncertain. Hence if happiness can be predicated of God, then God is very happy, since His life is so uniquely poignant and complete.
And so on.
